pot belly stormy???

[nrly]

I am going to put Stormy on grass, with strategy and see if she looses that belly of hers. Stable owner was being a smart mouth the other day and asked when is she going to have her foal, I told him when hell freezes over. I have worked her , so it is time to try the grass, since that is what she was raised on. tell me what you all think of grass hay and such please.

[kimk]

Nola,
I am a firm believer in a grass hay diet for horses. In my opinion, alfalfa just is not good horse food. Horses were designed to eat a variety of grasses and forage. alfalfa is best left for dairy cattle. JMO.
Kim

[DianneC]

Grass is best, but al things in moderation. You will need to cut back the amount you are feeding her in addition. The thing about being really overweight is that horses can founder and develop real problems if they stay way fat.

[Michelle Clarke]

Stormy is quite overweight...! Same issues I had with my Kigers. Once I got them on a feed that allowed them to have all the nutrients they needed in a small amount of grain, it made all the difference in the world. They definately do not need the alfalfa or anything with molasses or corn in it (corn turns to sugar in the blood). This also goes along with the discussion about mutton withers...it is easy for them to get fat and loose all definition. Really, you should not see thier belly when you look at them from the back.

I am also concerned that she still is very fuzzy. She may not be getting/abosorbing the nutrients she needs. Honestly you need to get her off that Purina stuff, it is just plain garbage and way too much filler for these horses.

[fantasykiger]

I am a grass hay only feeder as well. With Stormy's size and all one flake of good quality grass hay twice a day and possibly some Nutrena Safe Choice if you feel the need to grain her for additional nutrients. Ther are a number of companies that make a low starch/sugar feeds Such as the Nutrena Safe Choice www.nutrenaworld.com/Screens/ProductDetails_Equine.aspx?ProductID=170
Buckeye Safe n' Easy which has no corn www.buckeyenutrition.com/equine/documents/344SafeNEasyPeltag.pdf
if you like your Purina products (there are a few individual products they put out that work for my horses) they recently came out with a new product in May of 2008 called Wellsolve www.wellsolveequine.com/
Just a bit of info' for you to check out on a few low starch feeds. I think switching over to grass is a great start and remember make the change gradual over 5-7 days for the change of any feed.

[Michelle Clarke]

Good links Tiffany...just keep in mind that there is no regulations on livestock feed. The ingredients are not in order, they don't have to list all of them and basically can put whatever they want on the bags. Nutrena is a company I do have confidence in as far as good quality ingredients, but even when I was feeding Safe Choice (we went through 25-30 bags per week here), each run would be a different color pellet, different consistancy and alot was even burnt.

[nrly]

she isn't fuzzy now that picture was taken in December. But it was the best one to show off her belly.
I am going to put her on grass, with strategy for grass.
Riddle is doing very well on hay, no belly, nova our BLM Mustang has no belly. here is a question,
Do I feed her the same amount of grass as i did with hay. she got a nice size flake. 2 times a day.

[fantasykiger]

I would say that is a good place to start and see how she does, by just feeding her the same amount just switching over to grass. If you don't notice any small changes in 2- 3 weeks, weight loss takes time when done properly, I would personaly cut back on the amount of strategy not the amount of grass, to start.

[nrly]

we have done that with the strategy, as a matter of fact we cut all the horse's back on the amount of strategy, just because I felt they were looking good, now we just needed to maintain. Except Stormy, she is fat. tonight she didn't get as much hay either, she got her flake, but it seemed smaller to me. some come off really thick, some don't. I am thankful that this isn't blow up hay though. then i would not be able to tell how much they are getting. What about orchard grass, hay mix?

[fantasykiger]

I Feed orchard grass to my horses. The mix alfalfa/grass bales are to unpredictable some have more alfalfa then others. My horse Fantasy sometimes has allergic reactions to certian alfalfa hay. So to save me grief we just don't deal with any alfalfa.

[Michelle Clarke]

Nola, you need to feed hay according to weight not flakes. Don't worry about too much grass hay, just cut the concentrates out. Horses are meant to eat all day and if you skimp on her hay you will cause other digestive problems and she will not have energy to be ridden. She needs a good 20lbs./day. Weigh it to make sure and get familiar with what a 5lb. flake of hay feels like.

[nrly]

her flakes were extremely large, we were going through a bale of hay every day, for 5 horse's, cause that is how they flaked off. now they are flaking about 21/2 inches wide where before they were wide. and she gets that 2 times a dad, and they are packed tight, allot of bloom in them. so I am at such a loss since all the others are doing wonderful on it. she had a belly when I got her from rick, it got worse on grass hay, cause no one told me I had to add supplements to Bermuda so her belly got big. she was slimming down, but now that it is hot we don't ride or work them long. like i said I am at a loss.
good links Tiffany, I think I will try that weight control from Purina Mills, and see how she does,I will add 1/2 of what they say with her strategy, cut back on the strategy increase the other over a weeks time. and see how it goes, increase her time out in the paddock and make her work and i will work also. good for both of us.

[J]

I prefer local grass hay. This time of year if pasture is not available I will feed Orchard grass. Alfalfa hay is my last choice.

If I think mine are losing weight and need additional protein I will add orchard pellets or alfalfa in pellets. I have more control over how much they get that way.

Along with grass or grass hay, mine also get 1 cup whole oats, 1 cup BOSS, 1 scoop of dynamite vitamins and dynapro. In winter they were up to 2 cups each but I cut them back in spring.